Venezuelan beauty queen slain, daughter survives shooting

In one of her last Twitter posts, Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear wished her fans peace, health and love.

The 29-year-old soap opera star was gunned down by the side of a country road less than a week later.

Spear and herex-husband, Thomas Henry Berry, were driving in Venezuela’s Carabobo state Monday night when their car broke down, officials said.Armed robbers opened fire, killing both of them.

Their 5-year-old daughter survived Monday’s shooting, authorities said, but was shot in the leg.

“It is presumed that the motive was robbery,” Venezuelan Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said. “We are still investigating. There are five people detained who are being interrogated.”

Spear was Miss Venezuela in 2004 and represented her country in the Miss Universe pageant the next year.

Her popularity opened the door to acting roles in soap operas that eventually made her an international star. She worked in Colombia and more recently in the United States, where she made her home in Miami.

“We are deeply impacted and saddened by the horrible crime that the beloved actress Monica Spear and her family suffered,” the network said in a statement. “Monica was not just a great professional, as she showed in the two soap operas that she worked on with us … but also she was an excellent person, always enthusiastic and with great strength and determination.”

Word of Spear’s slaying spread quickly on social media and drew a massive response from fans in the South American nation and well beyond its borders.

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